Chris Bertram’s got a good catch from de Tocqueville on the differences between US and British national self-regard. All I could do when I heard about Gordon Brown’s call to rally round the flag was sigh, because:
Isn’t “rediscovering our identity” something that New Labour do every six months or so?
Any scheme inaugurated by Gordon Brown to that effect would be some kind of nightmarish thicket of marginal incentives. There’d be a steering committee, inter-departmental co-ordination activities, a hideous website with interactivity features that failed to function. The small-but-thriving Laotian community of Newport Pagnell would be consulted extensively. Squadrons of eager young civil servants would descend on the Mongols of Wick, to pick their brains. A six billion pound contract for flag-measuring and identification software would be awarded to one of the government’s favoured technology consortia, due to be ready in 2015. No, 2020. Make that 2025. At length, inspectors fan out across the country to observe the prominence and dimensions of the union flags in people’s gardens. They are empowered to award luncheon vouchers, air miles, citizenship warrants entitling the bearer to 20% off at IKEA and VAT refunds, payable in ringgit, at a date not less than five years from the original inspections.
I see it all now, and I want to go back to bed.
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